Skype experienced a major outage that resulted in users in many countries not being able to make internet calls. Some users were also unable to send messages. Used by around 300 million people worldwide, Skype has become a ubiquitous means for people in different locations to keep in touch. The software solution, which allows users to make free video chat and voice calls from computers and tablets and cheaper international calls to landline phones overseas, was bought by Microsoft in May of 2011 for a staggering $8.5 billion.
Many users reported that although they were online, Skype recognized them as being offline, making it impossible to initiate calls. In addition, in some cases profile information wasn’t viewable, and in other cases users were not able to find their credit balances. Users worldwide were impacted, with a prevalence of problems in countries like the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and Japan, although there were also reports of problems in India, the United States, and New Zealand. Throughout the outage the web-based version of the solution remained operational, as did the business version.
"We have detected an issue with the status settings of Skype... Affected users will not be able to change their status, their contacts will all show as offline and they will be unable to start Skype calls to them... Instant messages are still being delivered as usual. The status issue also doesn't affect Skype for Web, which can be used to make calls and send instant messages," explained the Skype management in a blog post.
The most recent messages on heartbeat.skype.com suggested, “We have identified the network issue which prevented users from logging in and using Skype today. We're in the process of reconnecting our users, and focused on restoring full service. The issue did not affect Skype for Business users. [UPDATE September 21 2015 23:53 GMT] Skype services have been fully restored.”
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